Three men were indicted by a Larimer County grand jury on allegations they conned a Florida businessman out of $1.15 million when he asked to invest in their Fort Collins-based virtual reality technology company.

Davenport and Smith were also indicted on one count of violation of bail bonds in relation to another case alleging theft and money laundering.

In September 2017, Florida businessman Juan Jose Rendon told investigators he contacted Davenport and expressed interest in working with Davenport, Smith and Halsmer's company, VRsenal Inc., which was involved in manufacturing virtual reality technology.

Renson decided to invest and paid more than $1.15 million to the VRsenal co-founders and executives between November 2017 and September 2018, according to court documents.

Kirk Smith(Photo: Courtesy of Larimer County Sheriff's Office)

But instead of using Renson's investment toward product development, the indictment alleges Davenport, Smith and Halsmer used most of that money to pay off previous loans, previous investors, pay themselves and — for Davenport and Smith — pay "tens of thousands of dollars" in attorneys fees in an ongoing investigation in another fraud case.

Davenport and Smith never revealed to Renson they were under investigation for criminal activity, even after Renson explicitly asked, according to court documents. Renson learned of the previous criminal investigation through his lawyers only after his company filed a lawsuit against VRsenal in March 2019.

Gabriel Halsmer(Photo: Courtesy of Larimer County Sheriff's Office)

Rendon frequently asked for increased transparency on what they planned to use his money for and tried to add those requirements to investment contracts, but Davenport, Smith and Halsmer would reportedly delete those contract provisions.

Smith, Davenport and Halsmer are all scheduled to appear in court Aug. 21.

Sady Swanson covers crime, courts, public safety and more throughout Northern Colorado. You can send your story ideas to her at sswanson@coloradoan.com or on Twitter at @sadyswan.